Trump pressure on Israel makes Gaza ceasefire possible says Palestinian politician – Channel 4 News
4m
14 Jan 2025

Trump pressure on Israel makes Gaza ceasefire possible says Palestinian politician

Europe Editor and Presenter

We speak to Mustafa Barghouti, the General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative and member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council.

Matt Frei: Mustafa, it’s good to have you back on the programme. Let me start with that note of optimism from Gershon Baskin there. Although this has been the darkest hour for so many, he thinks that this – because of the horrors of the last year – something positive might come from it, both for the Palestinians and for the Israelis. Do you agree?

Mustafa Barghouti: I agree that something good could happen, but that is conditioned by a different American position in general and the different position of the Western countries. If these countries tell Israel ‘enough is enough and you have to endure occupation and endure system of apartheid and one genocide is enough, we don’t need another one’, then yes, we can see a future of peace. It all starts with one specific act – ending the Israeli illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Matt Frei: So it’s interesting that Gershon Baskin thought it was Donald Trump saying all hell will break loose if the hostages aren’t released – was aimed actually at Netanyahu and not so much on Hamas or the Palestinians. Do you think that Trump is good for your cause or bad for your cause?

Mustafa Barghouti: It depends on his behaviour. I mean, it depends on whether he will allow Israel to annex the West Bank, for instance, which would kill completely the possibility of a Palestinian state. It depends. If at this very moment he did something positive, which is to pressure Netanyahu, something that Biden couldn’t do, and only because there is a pressure from Trump on Netanyahu that we are seeing this deal happening. This deal was there six months ago. The Palestinian side had accepted the deal. Netanyahu blocked it. Biden, instead of blaming Netanyahu, lied and claimed that it was the Palestinians who blocked the deal. And we lost in the course of the last six months 10,000 Palestinian innocent people. And in that course, he also allowed the killing of many Israeli prisoners. So in reality, we are seeing now a difference, mainly because now Netanyahu understands he cannot play games with Trump. And that means there is an opportunity if Trump takes the right position and not a position similar to what his ambassador…

Matt Frei: And on that note, I was going to ask you about that, Mustafa. His ambassador to Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, you know, Mike Huckabee refers to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria. You know, there are other people in the administration who want to see the annexation of the West Bank. Who do you believe? Do you believe Donald Trump? And we don’t know where he stands on that or do you believe those people?

Mustafa Barghouti: Well, as you know, it’s very difficult to expect exactly what Trump would do. We will see. But judging by what his appointees are saying, including Huckabee and including the new defence, the one proposed to become the Secretary of Defence. It’s very alarming when Huckabee says that Palestinians don’t exist and that we are simply an invention to take away land from Israel and denies the Palestinian presence completely and claims there are no settlements and there is no occupation. Of course this is a frank violation of every aspect of international law. And that means all these people who are around Trump are very dangerous and very dangerous to the future because that could mean not only the continuation of genocide that is happening in Gaza, but also destroying any potential for peace. One thing that has to be clear – if Israel kills the potential for a two state solution, and for a Palestinian state, the only solution would be one democratic state for everybody. We will never accept ethnic cleansing and we will never accept to be subjugated to apartheid.